Privacy Statement for System Center 2012 - Orchestrator

Microsoft is committed to protecting your privacy, while delivering software that brings you the performance, power, and convenience you desire in your personal computing. This privacy statement explains many of the data collection and use practices of Microsoft System Center 2012 - Orchestrator Release to Manufacturing (“Orchestrator”).

System Center 2012 - Orchestrator Release to Manufacturing empowers IT Pros to easily develop Runbooks for Microsoft System Center that interoperate with 3rd party systems to automate data center workloads. Runbooks are created and tested in the Runbook Designer, a rich drag-and-drop style user interface optimized for use by IT Pros. These Runbooks bring Microsoft System Center products and 3rd party systems together to automate data center workloads through the use of a unique and powerful Publish/Subscribe mechanism. Once created these Runbooks are deployed to distributed Runbook Servers where they can be managed using the Orchestration Console, a rich Microsoft Silverlight application that allows the IT Pro to identify Runbook issues, start and stop runbooks and explore the runtime environment.

Collection and Use of Your Information

The information we collect from you will be used by Microsoft and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates to enable the features you are using and provide the service(s) or carry out the transaction(s) you have requested or authorized. It may also be used to analyze and improve Microsoft products and services.

We may send certain mandatory service communications such as welcome letters, billing reminders, information on technical service issues, and security announcements. Some Microsoft services may send periodic member letters that are considered part of the service. We may occasionally request your feedback, invite you to participate in surveys, or send you promotional mailings to inform you of other products or services available from Microsoft and its affiliates.

In order to offer you a more consistent and personalized experience in your interactions with Microsoft, information collected through one Microsoft service may be combined with information obtained through other Microsoft services. We may also supplement the information we collect with information obtained from other companies. For example, we may use services from other companies that enable us to derive a general geographic area based on your IP address in order to customize certain services to your geographic area.

Except as described in this statement, personal information you provide will not be transferred to third parties without your consent. We occasionally hire other companies to provide limited services on our behalf, such as packaging, sending and delivering purchases and other mailings, answering customer questions about products or services, processing event registration, or performing statistical analysis of our services. We will only provide those companies the personal information they need to deliver the service, and they are prohibited from using that information for any other purpose.

Microsoft may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications, in order to: ( a ) comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process; ( b ) protect the rights or property of Microsoft or our customers, including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of the services; or ( c ) act on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, customers, or the public. We may also disclose personal information as part of a corporate transaction such as a merger or sale of assets.

Information that is collected by or sent to Microsoft by Orchestrator may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries, or service providers maintain facilities. Microsoft abides by the safe harbor framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of data from the European Union, the European Economic Area, and Switzerland.

Collection and Use of Information about Your Computer

When you use software with Internet-enabled features, information about your computer ("standard computer information") is sent to the Web sites you visit and online services you use. Microsoft uses standard computer information to provide you Internet-enabled services, to help improve our products and services, and for statistical analysis. Standard computer information typically includes information such as your IP address, operating system version, browser version, and regional and language settings. In some cases, standard computer information may also include hardware ID, which indicates the device manufacturer, device name, and version. If a particular feature or service sends information to Microsoft, standard computer information will be sent as well.

The privacy details for each Orchestrator feature, software or service listed in this privacy statement describe what additional information is collected and how it is used.

Security of your information

Microsoft is committed to helping protect the security of your information. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. For example, we store the information you provide on computer systems with limited access, which are located in controlled facilities.

Changes to this privacy statement

We will occasionally update this privacy statement to reflect changes in our products, services, and customer feedback. When we post changes, we will revise the "last updated" date at the top of this statement. If there are material changes to this statement or in how Microsoft will use your personal information, we will notify you either by posting a notice of such changes prior to implementing the change or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to periodically review this statement to be informed of how Microsoft is protecting your information.

For More Information

Microsoft welcomes your comments regarding this privacy statement. If you have questions about this statement or believe that we have not adhered to it, please contact us.

Specific Features

The remainder of this document will address the following specific features:

Workflow Data Logging

What this feature does:

Workflow activities that interact with systems can be configured to collect data that would be considered private.

Information collected, processed, or transmitted:

Examples of such systems would be Active Directory, BMC Remedy, and so on. By default, this data (referred to as "Object Specific Published Data" in the product) is not logged; however, the Enterprise can select an option to "Log Object Specific Published Data" in which case this data will be logged to the database and visible in the Operations Console/Designer/etc.

Use of information:

This information is not sent outside of the Enterprise.

Choice/Control:

To enable or disable this feature:

In the Runbook Designer, in the Connections pane, click the Runbooks folder.

If the runbook is stored in a folder, select the appropriate folder under Runbooks.

In the Design workspace of Runbook Designer, right-click the tab of a runbook to select Properties.

On the Logging tab of the Runbook Properties dialog box:

Select the Store Activity-Specific Published Data check box to enable this feature. Clear the check box to disable the feature.

Select the Store Common Published Data check box to enable this feature. Clear the check box to disable the feature.

To close the Runbook Properties dialog box, click Finish.

Important information

Workflows have a revision history associated with them. This history is stored in the database along with the Active Directory SID of the user that created the changes. This feature cannot be disabled.

Workflow Exports

What this Feature Does:

The Enterprise can export policies and other Orchestrator configuration information into an XML-formatted file intended to be used as a policy export/import mechanism.

Information collected, processed, or transmitted:

These exports will contain information about the workflows as required to import them at a subsequent date. Any information stored in an Orchestrator workflow would be present in the export. This would include form-field data configured into workflow objects (“Activities”) as well as workflow owner information such as SIDs from Active Directory.

Use of information:

This information is not sent outside of the Enterprise.

Choice/Control

The export/import feature is only present in the Orchestrator Run Book Designer (the “Designer”) and you may opt not to use this feature.

Interaction with Third Party Systems

What this feature does:

Orchestrator Integration Packs allow the Enterprise to interact with third party systems as part of an overall workflow.

Information collected, processed, or transmitted:

Orchestrator does not collect or send any such data, however third party systems might. Orchestrator may interact with third party systems such as to cause them to send information outside the Enterprise.

Use of information:

Orchestrator does not send any information outside the enterprise. Such information would be sent by a third party system in response to activity driven by Orchestrator.

Choice/Control:

Review the privacy features and policies of the third party systems that are interacting with Orchestrator. If a third party system does in fact transmit this sort of information as part of interacting with Orchestrator, consult the privacy statement as well as other documentation provided by the third party system vendor for instructions on how to disable such transmission.

Customer Experience Improvement Program

What this feature does:

The Customer Experience Improvement Program (“CEIP”) collects basic information about your hardware configuration and how you use our software and services in order to identify trends and usage patterns. CEIP also collects the type and number of errors you encounter, software and hardware performance, and the speed of services. We will not collect your name, address, or other contact information.

Use of information:

We use this information to improve the quality, reliability, and performance of Microsoft software and services.

Choice/Control:

You are offered the opportunity to participate in CEIP during setup. You can change this setting after install through the Runbook Designer Help/About where an opt-in/opt-out is available.

Microsoft Error Reporting

What this feature does:

Microsoft Error Reporting provides a service that allows you to report problems you may be having with Orchestrator to Microsoft and to receive information that may help you avoid or solve such problems.

Information collected, processed, or transmitted:

For information about the information collected, processed, or transmitted by Microsoft Error Reporting, see the Microsoft Error Reporting privacy statement athttp://oca.microsoft.com/en/dcp20.asp.

Use of information:

We use the error reporting data to solve customer problems and improve our software and services.

Choice/Control:

You will be offered the opportunity to participate in Microsoft Error Reporting during install only. We also offer you the ability to queue reports prior to sending. You can change this setting after install through the Runbook Designer Help/About where an opt-in/opt-out is available.

When you choose to enable it, Microsoft Error Reporting will automatically report problems you encounter to Microsoft. When Microsoft needs additional data to analyze the problem, you will be prompted to review the data and choose whether or not to send it.

Important information:

Enterprise customers can use Group Policy to configure how Microsoft Error Reporting behaves on their computers. Configuration options include the ability to turn off Microsoft Error Reporting. If you are an administrator and wish to configure Group Policy for Microsoft Error Reporting, technical details are available at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=228751.

Microsoft Update

What this feature does:

Microsoft Update is a service that provides Windows updates as well as updates for other Microsoft software.

Use of information:

Choice/Control:

Microsoft Update is not turned on as a default. It is controlled by a choice you make during the setup. You may later change it by accessing the Microsoft Update client under your Control Panel to turn updates on or off.

Integration Packs from third parties (non-Microsoft authored)

What This Feature Does:

Integration Packs from third parties extend the core Orchestrator 2012 platform to include new runbook activities not available from Microsoft integration packs.

Information Collected, Processed, or Transmitted:

For details about what information is collected and how it is used, refer to the privacy statement of the third party who provided the integration pack.

Use of Information:

For details about what information is collected and how it is used, refer to the privacy statement of the third party who provided the integration pack.

Choice/Control:

For details about what information is collected and how it is used, refer to the privacy statement of the third party who provided the integration pack.